Our goal is to attract and train postdoctoral candidates who seek training in multiple areas of auditory research. The research of our Program Faculty covers a broad spectrum of approaches, i.e., psychophysics, anatomy, physiology, molecular biology, and clinical applications. All of the members of the Program Faculty have extramural funding and state-of-the-art laboratories. We are a long-standing, cohesive, and productive group with a history of individual and cooperative success that is necessary for a training grant to be optimal in terms of both its potential and actual outcomes. The training grant will support three postdoctoral fellows at any one time. The trainees will possess a Ph.D. or M.D. with a strong potential for a research career in auditory neuroscience. The basic goal of the training program is to develop scientists with broad training in auditory neuroscience, a deep awareness and appreciation of many additional aspects of the field, and a love for learning, experimentation and teaching. We view our candidates as intellectual members of a team, budding junior colleagues and not simply workers accomplishing the next step on a grant application. Each postdoctoral trainee will be offered a maximum of three years of support with the understanding that this support depends on satisfactory progress. We anticipate that this is an appropriate training period, but it may need to be tailored to the trainee?s background. For instance, a trainee who needs to strengthen his background through courses and lab experience might require more than three years of support, while a trainee with a strong auditory background or past postdoctoral experience may require less than three years. If more than three years of support is required, then the trainee will submit an individual NRSA (F32) to support their training beyond our three-year maximum. We are a flexible group and the best interests of the trainee will be foremost in determining the optimal period of support. We are excited about our own work and also the work of our colleagues. We respect the contributions that can be made by psychophysicists, electrophysiologists, molecular biologists and anatomists and know that progress on fundamental issues requires the cooperation and integration of outstanding researchers with diverse areas of expertise. A postdoctoral trainee in this milieu cannot help but flourish to become a productive and creative investigator in his own right.